MN Shortlist: Sept. 25-Oct. 1 — A major Indigenous exhibition at Weisman, Lake Superior art crawl and more
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MN Shortlist is the MPR News weekly roundup of arts and culture recommendations. This week’s picks include “The Secret Garden” at Stages Theatre in Hopkins, the inaugural Selby Days festival in St. Paul and more.
Lake Superior 20/20 Studio & Art Tour — Sept. 25-27
Fifty-nine artists will show their wares across 20 host sites on the North Shore, from art studios to farms and nurseries, for the 15th annual Lake Superior 20/20 Studio & Art Tour.
“Most of the artists involved in the tour are from the local community, and we do have some artists that are from out of state, but most of them are pretty local to the Two Harbors-Duluth area,” organizer and potter Paul Zoldahn told MPR News.
Maps are available online and in print at tour stops. Expect everything from handmade jewelry and clothing to paintings, blown glass and ceramics. In Two Harbors, look for the narrative Ojibwe illustrations of Carl Gawboy and the uniquely activist ceramics of pop-up artist Nathan Bray, hosted at the studio of Lisa Perrin-Kosmo, who creates dreamy paintings of nature and animals. (Alex V. Cipolle)
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‘The Secret Garden’ at Stages Theatre in Hopkins — Sept. 25-Oct. 25
You likely know the basic idea of “The Secret Garden” without having read Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic 1911 novel: Spoiled Mary Lennox comes to live with her uncle on the moody English moors. There, she discovers her late aunt’s secret garden, and with the help of her cousin, a maid, and a gardener, brings new life to the garden and to the whole house.
Adaptations of the book have appeared in multiple films, plays and a 1991 Broadway musical. Stages Theatre in Hopkins opens the world premiere of an adaptation by Jeannine Coulombe Friday.
Director Anna Crace says this version focuses on the children in the story.
“Rereading it now in 2026, it just felt like this is a celebration of young people who are learning how to care about each other and learning how to take agency in their own lives and make their own choices, and that choice is to help others. To help other young people feels just kind of magical to me.”
Crace says the garden is written like a character in the show, and it comes to life on stage with the help of a puppeteered robin, flowers and other animals.
The 65-minute show is geared toward children ages 8 and up, largely because Mary is orphaned at the start of the story and is grieving her parents. Younger children are welcome at their parents’ discretion. (Emily Bright)
‘‘Merciless’: Indigenous Lands Since 1776’ exhibition in Minneapolis — Sept. 26-May 16
A new exhibition remembers and celebrates Indigenous resistance at the Weisman Art Museum. Through various mediums, including augmented reality, “‘Merciless’: Indigenous Lands Since 1776” invites visitors to reflect on the history of land and Indigenous people.
The title comes from a passage in the Declaration of Independence that refers to Indigenous people as “merciless Indian Savages,” said exhibition curator Kendra Greendeer.
Greendeer said highlighting Indigenous women artists — Natchez Beaulieu, Marlena Myles and Missy Whiteman — grounds the exhibition in traditional Indigenous values and teachings. Artworks are displayed both inside and outside of the museum.
“I really wanted to center on this connection of land and people that have encountered dominance and geographical restraint since 1776,” Greendeer told MPR News. “‘‘Merciless’: Indigenous Lands since 1776’ is really highlighting or calling attention to the contradictions of this term ‘merciless.’”
The Weisman Art Museum will hold a free and public opening festival on Sept. 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibition itself will be on display through May 16, 2027. (Chandra Colvin)
Thirtieth anniversary of Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer — Sept. 26
In 1996 in the St. Croix River Valley, a small group of artists started what would grow into an outdoor art museum with more than 100 large-scale sculptures dotting a grassy 50-acre site.
In the three decades since, Franconia Sculpture Park has hosted hundreds of local, national and international artists-in-residence to create the whimsical, conceptual and downright comical artworks that mark the landscape, from Chris Manzione’s optical rock that references the wildly painted camouflage warships of the early 20th century to Asako Nakauchi’s constellation sail honoring the tens of thousands of victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.
The free Franconia birthday party, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, will feature scavenger hunts, mural making, bouncy houses and a chance to meet the 2026 artists-in-residence as well as see newly installed sculptures.
Can’t make the festivities? The park is open 365 days a year. (Alex V. Cipolle)
Selby Days in St. Paul — Sept. 26
Selby Avenue in St. Paul is getting a new neighborhood festival this weekend. The inaugural Selby Days includes art, live music, food, local makers and more.
The festival takes place across three main spaces: Selby Grove will host live acoustic and electric music, community sing-alongs, line dancing and even a mechanical bull; Creative Hearts Yard will feature local artists, handmade goods and live art; while the Butterfly Grove offers a quieter space for poetry, photography, interactive art and wellness activities.
Selby Days runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday around Selby Avenue and Grotto Street in St. Paul. (Annie Russell)
‘Sky Poems: A poetry and flag-raising event’ in Minneapolis — Sept. 27
Minneapolis artist A.P. Looze has a history of taking textiles and turning them into handmade flags that build community and mark history, especially for the trans community.
On Sept. 27, Looze will gather three major Twin Cities poets — Danez Smith, Heid E. Erdrich and Junauda Petrus (the latter two being Minneapolis’ first and second poet laureates) — for “Sky Poems,” an event featuring poetry performances and flag-raisings that reflect on Minneapolis in the aftermath of Operation Metro Surge.
“I'm really proud to be presenting flags, short poems on flags with Danez Smith and Junauda Petrus,” poet Heid E. Erdrich told MPR News. “It's really the culmination of what I've been doing with poetry as public art.”
“The poem — I wrote it during the occupation,” Erdrich added. “It is an anti-ICE poem, and it has a swear word in it, but I pronounce it the way an old farmer would pronounce it.”
The event is free and runs 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at the Land Stewardship Project Flag Pole at 821 E. 35th St. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs. The flags will fly for about a month. (Alex V. Cipolle)
